Medical experts warn that 7,000 covid intensive care patients will soon be

adminonDecember 27, 2021February 19, 2022Leave a Comment

Women and men in blue plastic gowns turn a Covid 19 patient into the prone position. All wear mask and face shield visor. It's a tough job. Tubes hanging from the patient's body are not allowed to tangle.

Intensive care units in Germany are increasingly busy these days. In view of the steep rise in the number of infections, more and more hospital beds are occupied. Intensive care physicians now sounding the alarm. To curb third Corona wave fast action is called for, they urge.

"Intensivists may be used to death – but nothing like this has happened before"

The dragging out debates over the proposed "Federal emergency brake" are dangerous. "We can't afford to keep discussing for weeks," warned the scientific director of the intensive care bed registry of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi), Christian Karagiannidis, In the "Tagesspiegel".

The former president of the association, Uwe Janssens, said on the television station Phoenix: "We have five past twelve, you must act now, a strategy must now be pursued, which applies uniformly throughout Germany."If the measures adopted weeks ago had been implemented nationwide, the current development with a sharp rise in infection figures can still weaken. Karagiannidis stressed that death is what intensivists are used to – "but there has never been anything like this before".

Number of Covid intensive care patients could soon rise to 7000

The Intensive Care Registry records the number of available intensive care beds in German hospitals on a daily basis. Since mid-March, the increased incidence of infection has also made itself felt in intensive care units. The association expects the previous peak of about 6000 Covid-19 intensive care patients to be reached again before the end of April.

If the planned Federal law The current Divi president, Gernot Marx, had already predicted that the number of patients would rise to 7,000 if the decision was not made until the end of April. "We're talking about a lot of serious illnesses and a lot of people who won't survive it," he said.

Covid emergencies in intensive care units: "System is at its limit!

According to an analysis by the Federal Statistical Office last March, the number of intensive care beds in Germany has increased by 36 percent over the past three decades. In 1991, it was still at 20.200, it increased to 27 by 2018.500. However, ICU beds are used not only for covid emergencies, but also for patients after Heart or cancer operations needed.

The number of intensive care beds per 100.000 inhabitants varies between the federal states: In Thuringia and Bremen, it is particularly high at around 740 each, while in Baden-Wurttemberg at 500 and Lower Saxony at 530 it is rather low.

Rising corona case numbers: Doctors call for hard lockdown

A continuous, hard lockdown is necessary to reduce the number of infections. Portugal and Ireland have shown that this is possible, they say. This included further restrictions on citizens. Scientific studies have shown "that the measures criticized by many Curfews have an effect on the so-called R-value and be able to reduce it by about twelve percent," said Janssens.

It is necessary to make it clear to the population that everyone is called upon to participate in the fight against the pandemic. "I miss this positive appeal in politics. The Cooperation of the population is essential."

Medical experts warn that 7,000 covid intensive care patients will soon be

"Federal emergency brake": from an incidence of 100, there is to be a night-time curfew

On Tuesday, the Federal Cabinet approved an amendment to the Infection Protection Act, which provides for uniform national measures for regions with a high number of new infections. The "emergency brake" is supposed to have an effect on the so-called R-value as of an incidence value of 100 new infections per 100.000 residents to take action within seven days. It includes, among other things, a nighttime curfew and the closure of most stores.

The states still see a need for improvement in the draft law. Rhineland-Palatinate's Minister President Malu Dreyer (SPD), among others, had expressed doubts about proportionality. FDP, Left Party and AfD also voiced sharp criticism. The bill is to be debated for the first time in the Bundestag on Friday, and will be passed there as well as in the Bundesrat next week.

The intensive care bed monitor shows where hospitals are reporting initial shortages of intensive care beds and which sites are already at capacity.

Emergency curfew: legal concerns are also said to exist in the Chancellor's Office

Experts in the Chancellor's Office apparently have legal concerns about the federal government's emergency brake. Several Chancellery departments questioned the proportionality of the planned nighttime curfew, according to an "Bild" report. Accordingly, in a memo from early March, a legal expert from the health department stated that the "basic validity of a nighttime curfew" was problematic in terms of "proportionality" and "currently unproven effectiveness" and was ruled illegal in court.

In addition, the note criticizes that the bill provides a "purely incidence-based benchmark" to trigger the federal emergency brake. In addition to incidences, other factors such as the R-factor and the number of ICU patients would need to be included. According to the report, the "automatic closures of daycare centers and schools" are also considered "particularly problematic" because they do not adequately take into account the "right to education". According to the report, the memo was signed off by seven other units in the Chancellor's Office.

Corona patients: Cologne is not far away from "hard triage" anymore

Critical care physicians warn against overly lengthy policy debates. The Cologne internist Michael Hallek, Head of Clinic I for Internal Medicine at the University Hospital of Cologne, fears a collapse of intensive care medicine in the near future. Hallek told the "Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger" that the Cologne University Hospital is not far away from a "hard triage" in which only selected patients can be treated.

"If the numbers rise too quickly, it may no longer be possible to avoid it. It could happen in the next few weeks. The system is AT THE STOP," warns the intensive care physician.

There are said to have been hundreds of messages that were Osnabruck police officers sent. Images glorifying Hitler and the Nazi era. According to the judiciary, anti-association symbols can be seen, xenophobic statements are dropped.

Again and again Police chat groups especially in the messenger service WhatsApp headlines. It has been known for a few days: Authorities in Hesse are investigating 20 police officers, including special forces. They, too, are said to have spread inciting contents. Police officers may not perform their duties until further notice.

But the case in Osnabruck shows that women often threaten the Policemen and policewomen Although service procedures – but a criminal prosecution is difficult. There is a gap in law enforcement, according to domestic policy makers.

Minister of the Interior: Gaps in prosecution for incitement of the people

Because under current law, for example, in the case of the Incitement of the people the "public peace" is disturbed by the inflammatory utterance. This public is not given in many cases according to court decision, since the chat groups are evaluated as "private" and a "public" is missing accordingly.

Thus also the Osnabruck Public prosecutor's office The case against the police officers discontinued. The reason given by the public prosecutor's office was that there was no "public use or dissemination of the files" that had been.

Now Schleswig-Holstein's interior minister Sabine Sutterlin-Waack an initiative. The CDU politician wants to target police chats with right-wing extremist or racist content more strongly.

Inciting content and the display of symbols of unlawful organizations within closed chat groups, such as at the Messenger service WhatsAppare to be punished in the future, "if the relevant content is used by officers in connection with the performance of duty," it says in the draft resolution for the conference of interior ministers taking place this week, which is available to our editorial office.

NRW also wants to take tougher action against racism in police departments

Officers of all kinds – not only policemen and policewomen – are thus "for general preventive reasons" more responsible for criminal prosecution with regard to incitement to hatred, for example. At the IMK, the Schleswig-Holstein state government wants to promote a new criminal offense: "Use" inciting contents and signs of organizations contrary to public policy in connection with the performance of official duties".

A similar advance had already North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) made. When asked, Schleswig-Holstein's Interior Minister Sabine Sutterlin-Waack (CDU) said: "We not only morally condemn anti-democratic statements in chat groups, but they should also be made a punishable offence. We will not tolerate anti-democratic statements even in internal chat groups."

Interior minister wants to send a clear signal

Sutterlin-Waack said: "We owe this to the reputation of the many female and male employees who work day after day for our liberal values in an exemplary manner, and it is also important for the trust of the citizens in our rule of law absolutely necessary."

The Interior Minister emphasized: "I am convinced that the overwhelming majority of public service employees are convinced of our democratic basic order and acts accordingly," said the CDU politician.

"However, we had to make a clear statement in Schleswig-Holstein and other federal states have recently found that this does not apply to a few employees." Therefore, it is "of central importance to set a clear signal here," says the Interior Minister.

They look like meat, sizzle just as appetizingly in the pan and resemble the original even in consistency. But instead of animal ingredients, seitan, soy, grains or even peas form their basis: over the shelves of discounters like supermarkets have plant-based meat substitutes found their way out of the niche and onto the plates of German consumers.

Meatless meatballs, vegetable-based patties or vegan ham pickers have long since won over not only vegetarians and vegans, but are particularly popular among so-called flexetarians. In other words, people who eat a largely vegetarian diet, but occasionally eat meat as well.

And so it comes that Meat alternatives According to the Food Newspaper, sales have steadily increased by about 30 percent annually since 2008.

Eschewing meat for the sake of health and the environment

While some people refrain from eating animal products for ethical reasons, the number of those who do not want to give their health or the Environment switch to vegan or vegetarian alternatives for the sake of it. This is confirmed by the results of the "Ernahrungsreport 2020", a forsa study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).

According to the survey, 37 percent of respondents said they buy vegan and vegetarian alternatives to animal products because they consider them healthy. 41 percent, on the other hand, choose meat, fish substitutes or plant-based milk alternatives because they want to protect the environment and climate.

Study: those who are processed meat, die earlier

Experts from science and environmental protection now agree that it makes sense to replace meat with plant-based products. After all, Germans consume around 60 kilograms of meat per capita every year. And thus far more than the German Nutrition Society recommends. This advises namely to 600 grams per week, i.e. about 31 kilograms per year.

Although meat contains readily available iron, selenium and zinc, it also contains saturated fatty acids, cholesterol and purines, which can have a negative effect on fat metabolism, uric acid levels and body weight. In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) even classified red meat as "probably carcinogenic" one.

Researchers have repeatedly emphasized that the current state of studies does not support such a drastic conclusion. However, scientists at Harvard University found out as early as 2012: Those who eat a lot of processed meat die earlier.

Nearly 17 percent of the study participants could have prevented their deaths from cardiovascular disease or cancer if they had reduced their consumption of processed red meat.

Meat production places an enormous burden on the environment and climate

In addition, humanity's appetite for meat is sacrificing precious resources while also polluting the climate with greenhouse gases. In this country alone, around 11.4 million cattle are currently kept. Methane, which the animals produce in their stomachs, has a 25 times greater effect as a greenhouse gas than Carbon dioxide.

Globally, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that 14.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock production. First and foremost, cows kept for milk and meat production. The contribution of livestock farming to global warming is thus greater than that of the transport sector. In addition, meat production devours enormous amounts of water – alone up to 15.400 liters per kilogram of beef.

Federal Environment Agency examines life cycle assessment of meat substitutes

The aim is to end the suffering of slaughtered animals, improve the health of consumers and, last but not least, protect the climate and the environment: If these reasons do not speak for a complete renunciation, then at least for a Reduction of our meat consumption.

Veggie burgers and sausages should make it easier for them consumers. Changeover instead of complete abandonment. But how much better is the Life cycle assessment of plant-based substitutes compared with conventional meat?

"Meat of the Future" is the title of a recently published trend report by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), which addresses this question among others. Its authors have studied the environmental effects of plant-based meat substitutes, edible insects and in vitro meat, i.e. meat that is grown in the laboratory.

Meat substitutes: do soy, peas and seitan save our climate??

Environmental impact of lab-grown meat can hardly be assessed so far

The result: Compared to conventional meat, alternative products would have a better ecological balance for the most part according to the study. Compared to beef, for example, the production of plant-based alternatives produces more than 90 percent less greenhouse gases.

Water and land consumption would also be many times lower. Insect-based meat substitutes, on the other hand, fared somewhat worse than plant-based meat substitutes, while the environmental impact of lab-grown meat has so far been difficult to assess.

According to UBA report, the production of one kilogram of soy-based meat substitute emits just 2.8 kilograms of greenhouse gases, while pork at 4.1 kilograms, poultry at 4.3 kilograms and beef at 30.5 kilograms fare much worse.

Soy is more environmentally friendly than seitan

But there would also be differences among plant-based meat substitutes: if you look at the CO2 emissions during production, polluting Soy, which also forms the basis of tofu, the climate less than seitan.

The production of wheat protein would release about 50 percent more greenhouse gases on average, the Sustainable European Research Institute found. Nevertheless, the production of seitan is more environmentally friendly than that of so-called Quorn, so fermented fungal cells.

Vegan products are still a little better than vegetarian ones

That it is beneficial for the environment and climate to eat less meat is also confirmed by other scientific studies, said environmental nutrition expert Florian Antony of the oko-Institut in Freiburg to this editorial office. Using a literature review, the researcher examined what science has found so far on the environmental impact of meat substitutes.

Its findings are in line with those of the UBA. The fact that plant-based alternatives perform better than conventional meat is also due to the fact that plant proteins are used directly – without first having to make a detour via animals as animal feed. And, "Vegan varieties are once more significantly better than vegetarian, for example, egg-based," Antony says. Nutri Score: Here's how the new food traffic light works